


Won't Let You Fall

by wingsdestiel



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 13, Christmas, Gen, Ice Skating, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Team Free Will, Team Free Will 2.0
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 08:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13566615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wingsdestiel/pseuds/wingsdestiel
Summary: Team Free Will goes ice skating, and Dean learns he's not the best at it. He also learns he might have feelings for Cas.





	Won't Let You Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sophia_m](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophia_m/gifts).



It was two days before Christmas, and Dean was eager to get out of Colorado. He and Sam had just finished their job of removing a run-of-the-mill ghost from the bell tower of a Lutheran church in a mountain community just outside Boulder. It had only taken a few hours, and definitely hadn’t required Cas or Jack’s help, but they both had come along anyway.

Now the ghost was gone, and Dean stood with his hands in his pockets, waiting for Sam to finish talking to Pastor Howard. The pastor seemed like a nice enough guy, but also had clear misgivings about interacting with them, as if he thought they might be tarnishing his holy space. He spoke to Sam in hushed tones, his voice trailing off at the end of his sentences. “I’m just very uncomfortable with all of this… you know, the notion of supernatural beings, it’s just… But I can’t deny that the presence is gone now, so...”

Dean turned away and rolled his eyes. Sam responded to Pastor Howard’s discomfort with empathy, though Dean couldn’t tell if it was genuine. “It can be hard to come to terms with the existence of the supernatural,” Sam said, and Dean stopped listening after that. He walked over to Jack and Cas, who were sitting silently in one of the pews, staring up at an ornate stained glass window.

“You guys ready to get out of here?”

Jack and Cas both turned to look at Dean at the same exact time with the same exact expression on their faces, like a pair of creepy twins. They did that a lot, and Dean wondered if he would ever get used to it. “Are we going back to the bunker?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, maybe we’ll have a nice quiet Christmas this year. Drink eggnog, watch  _ Die Hard _ .”

“What is _ Die Hard _ ?” Jack said, his brow furrowed.

“It’s a movie,” Cas said. “Dean made me watch it last year. It was... entertaining.”

Sam and the pastor finally wandered over to them. Pastor Howard shook all their hands and thanked them for their help. He eyed Cas with unease, as he had the entire time they were there; he seemed particularly uncomfortable with the idea that Cas was an Angel of the Lord. After his less than enthusiastic reaction to that news, they had opted not to tell him that Jack was the son of Lucifer. 

As Pastor Howard walked them out, they passed through the entryway of the church, where various flyers and pamphlets were pinned to bulletin boards. Jack stopped to look at them, and pointed to one. “What are they doing?”

Dean looked to where Jack was pointing and saw a flyer with a photo of obnoxiously happy people ice skating.  _ Winter Wonderland Fundraiser at Boulder Ice skating rink _ , the headline said.  _ December 24. All proceeds donated to Boulder Soup Kitchen. _ “They’re ice skating,” Dean said. “You put on these dumb shoes and then fall down on the ice and get bruised.”

“Why do they look like they’re having fun? Do people like to fall down on ice?” Jack said, looking at Dean with interest.

“Dean’s just being dramatic,” Sam said. “People usually fall down at first. Once you get the hang of it, you can glide around and it’s fun.”

Jack looked back and forth between Cas, Sam, and Dean expectantly. “It’s tomorrow afternoon. I would like to try ice skating.”

Cas looked at Dean, amused, then turned to Jack. “I think Dean is anxious to return to the bunker. Maybe another time -- ”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Sam said. “It’s for charity. And if we leave tomorrow instead of tonight, we don’t have to drive down the mountain in the dark.”

“C’mon,” Dean said. “I know how to drive down a mountain.”

“You can’t go 80 around the curves!” Sam said, exasperated. “I’m not sure if you know this, but your car does have brakes.”

“I think I would like to try ice skating as well,” Cas said. “If you wouldn’t mind staying the extra night, Dean.”

“Let’s do it!” said Sam.

Jack grinned and pulled the flyer off the bulletin board, leaving behind two staples and bits of paper. Pastor Howard looked at him with mild distaste.

Dean sighed. “Okay, but I’m not skating. I’ll watch.”

“We’ll see,” Sam said with a smirk. He held open the large oak door for everyone to file out of the church, except the pastor, who waved them off, looking relieved at their departure.

The next morning, they ate breakfast at a diner on their way into Boulder. To Dean’s dismay, Jack ordered a cup of coffee, drank it all in five minutes, and asked for a refill. Despite being impervious to pretty much everything, caffeine still had an effect on Jack, and Dean knew he would be bouncing off the walls soon. 

“If you skate with us today, I’ll watch  _ Die Hard _ with you,” Jack offered cheerily.

Dean wanted to say no, he really did, but something about Jack made it difficult to say no to him. Maybe it was the way Jack looked at the three of them, like they were all he had and all he needed. Dean supposed Jack could just be using Jedi mind tricks on him, though he sincerely hoped that wasn’t the case. That would be a particularly slippery slope into using his powers for evil, even if he was just trying to go ice skating at the moment. “All right,” Dean muttered. “But we leave after an hour. I wanna get on the road.”

They arrived at the skating rink a few minutes early, and the parking lot was already halfway full. Inside there were about ten people skating slowly around the oval rink, including a family with two young children. Christmas music played over the speaker system, and there was a table set up with volunteers renting out skates. “Welcome!” a blonde woman said from behind the table. “It’s five dollars to rent a pair of skates for the afternoon. The raffle is at 2 pm, and raffle tickets are three dollars each.”

Dean coughed up enough cash to cover skates for all four of them, as well as a raffle ticket for Jack, who was enamored with the idea of winning a hand-knitted scarf or hat. They had to wait a few minutes for a volunteer to find the only size 13 skates at the bottom of one of the bins (for Sam, of course), and then they were on their way. 

The first ten minutes were just about as terrible as Dean had expected. He gripped the short wall that enclosed the rink and pulled himself along, his ankles wobbling. He hadn’t fallen, but that was probably because he was going as slow as possible and refusing to let go of the side. Sam was the first to venture away from the wall, and quickly got the hang of it. “It’s your sasquatch legs!” Dean shouted. “Your mutant sasquatch legs!”

Jack and Cas soon followed Sam into the center of the rink and started racing one another. They each fell down once or twice, but simply helped each other up, laughing. Despite the advantage of his long legs, Sam wasn’t the most talented skater of the group; Cas was the one who seemed to have a knack for it. He soon learned how to skate in tight circles, and even glide backwards. As other people filed in, he garnered applause for his skill. It was a bizarre sight. Cas was not someone Dean considered to be particularly athletic. He was proficient at hand-to-hand combat, and Dean wouldn’t want to go up against him in a fight, but he never pictured Cas doing something requiring so much… well, grace.

Cas skated over to Dean, who was still gripping the wall. “It’s actually harder to stay along the side,” Cas said. “You have to build momentum, so it’s easier to stay upright.”

Dean glared at him. “I’m only doing this because Jack asked me to. I didn’t say I would be good at this.”

Cas held out his arm. “Come on, I’ll help you.”

Dean reluctantly grabbed hold of Cas’ forearm, but couldn’t bring himself to let go of the wall. For someone who was in actual danger on a daily basis, his heart was beating embarrassingly fast. 

“I won’t let you fall,” Cas said. “Put your weight on me.”

Something about the way Cas said this made Dean’s face grow hot. He cautiously released his grip on the wall, and his body lurched backward as he almost lost his balance, but Cas kept him steady. After a moment, Dean was able to start moving his legs enough to go forward, and he tried his best to mimic Cas’ movements. He found himself worrying that the other skaters would notice how inept he was, but when he looked up he saw plenty of people leaning on the wall or companions for support. 

Cas began to pull him along a bit faster, and Dean knew he was going to fall before it happened. His right ankle wobbled and slipped out from underneath him, and he spun out and around in front of Cas. He instinctively pulled on Cas’ arm to prevent himself from falling, but only managed to pull Cas down with him. A split second after Dean felt his back slam against the ice, Cas came crashing down on top of him. Dean’s diaphragm spasmed from the force of the fall, and he gasped. He heard Sam and Jack’s laughter from a few yards away and groaned, half in pain and half in annoyance.

Cas quickly rolled off of him and sat up. “Dean! Are you okay?”

Dean coughed and winced at the pain in his back. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Cas was somehow able to push himself back up onto his feet without slipping, and held out his hand to help Dean up. When they were both upright again, Dean pulled Cas back over to the wall, still using him for balance. “I think I’m gonna go sit down now,” he said.

“Wait, Dean,” Cas said, and touched his hand lightly to Dean’s forehead. Dean felt the familiar rush run through his body, hot and cold at the same time, and then his pain was gone.

“Thanks.”

“Of course. Do you need help getting over there?” he asked, inclining his head toward the gap in the wall.

Dean shook his head. “I’ll be okay.”

Cas brushed his hand over Dean’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze before skating over to Sam and Jack. Dean felt his face get hot again.

An hour later, all four of them were walking back to the Impala for the drive to Lebanon. Sam had a bruised elbow, which Cas healed despite Sam’s insistence that it was no big deal. Jack had fallen a few times but did not have any bruises; he healed himself instantly (and without even having to think about it, he said). Jack did, however, have a new green knitted hat, which he had won in the raffle. 

“Did you make them pick your number?” Dean demanded.

Jack’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think so. But maybe I did? Not on purpose.”

“It’s okay,” said Sam. “You’re still learning how your powers work.” He turned to Dean as they reached the car. “Want me to drive for a while? You look pretty wiped.”

“I think ice skating exhausted him far more than the hunt did,” Cas said with a smirk. Sam and Jack laughed.

“Yeah, yeah. Fine, Sammy, you take the first shift.” Dean tossed Sam the keys, and they all piled into the Impala, Cas and Jack in the back seat and Dean in the passenger seat. Dean was asleep by the time they got on the highway.

They got to the bunker just after nine. Sam went to bed immediately, and Jack only lingered in the war room for a moment to thank Dean for agreeing to stay an extra night in Colorado. “I’m really glad I tried skating. Aren’t you?”

“Honestly, kid, I could’ve done without it,” Dean said. “But I’m glad you had fun. And remember, tomorrow you see the greatest movie ever made.”

Jack nodded, smiling. “Merry almost-Christmas,” he said, and went down the hall to his room.

“Merry almost-Christmas!” Dean called after him.

Cas had a strange, small smile on his face.

“What?” Dean said.

“You’re fond of him,” Cas said. “You’re starting to believe that he’s good.”

Dean opened his mouth to deny it, but stopped. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But you know what? I don’t think he was good from the get-go. I think he formed some kind of bond with you, and since then he’s wanted to be like you. He called you his dad, you know that?”

Cas’ expression softened. “I’m not sure that he should be looking up to me. If he knew about some of the things I’ve done – ”

“He would understand why you did them,” Dean said firmly. “I can’t think of anyone better to show him the ropes.”

Cas looked at the floor. “Thank you, Dean.”

“And hey, if he does go Dark Side, we’ll get him back. If you don’t give up on him, then neither will I. He’s family.”

Cas pulled Dean into a hug that surprised him with its intensity. At first, Dean just patted him on the back, but that didn’t feel quite right. He balled his hands into fists and matched Cas’ hold. He wasn’t sure how much time passed, but at some point Cas pulled back.  “Good night, Dean,” Cas said, and walked down the hall. 

Dean waited until he heard Cas’ door close before he let out a shaky breath. He thought of the way Cas had held out his arm earlier, said with such earnestness,  _ I won’t let you fall. _

What if he wanted to?

**Author's Note:**

> I somehow accidentally deleted this fic, so sorry that it disappeared!


End file.
